Images of passing the torch can be stirring.
Prezidan John Kennedy te rive nan yon nivo nan oratory inogirasyon lè li deklare that “the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.” Three decades later, when Bill Clinton won the presidency, a Newsweek headline proclaimed “THE TORCH PASSES.” The article underneath glorified “a film clip that made its way into a widely seen campaign ad: a beaming, 16-year-old Bill Clinton on a sun-drenched White House lawn, shaking the hand of his and his generation’s idol, John F. Kennedy.”
Weeks later, when Time magazine named Clinton “Man of the Year,” its cover story carried the headline “THE TORCH IS PASSED.”
Prezidans Clinton nan te kontinye pote flanbo a pou mezi antrepriz zanmitay. Pak komès NAFTA detwi anpil travay sendika ki byen peye; "refòm byennèt” blese fanm pòv yo ak fanmi yo; yon lwa sou krim enpòtan alimenté anprizònman an mas; Wall Street déréglementation te mennen nan fizyon finansye a nan 2007-2008.
Now, the top of the Democratic Party is passing torches on Capitol Hill. When Nancy Pelosi announced two weeks ago that she will no longer lead House Democrats, she te di: "Lè a rive pou yon nouvo jenerasyon dirije." Men, nan ki direksyon?
Pelosi quickly endorsed Rep. Hakeem Jeffries to replace her as leader. NBC News ofri the common media frame: “Pelosi made history as the first female speaker of the House, while Jeffries, the current Democratic Caucus chairman, would become the first Black leader of a congressional caucus and highest-ranking Black lawmaker on Capitol Hill.”
Ou ka konte sou anpil nan medya mas yo bay Jeffries 52-zan ak felisitasyon, lajman apwovizyone pa Demokrat parèy yo. Men, an jeneral, yon gade pi pre revele yon dosye pwoblèm.
Byen bonè, anvan li te vin yon lejislatè eta New York, Jeffries te travay pandan plizyè ane kòm yon avoka antrepriz. In Congress – while he has taken a few progressive positions like cosponsoring Medicare for All and voting to cut 10 percent of the military budget – his emphasis has been in sync with the party establishment.
"Mwen se yon Demokrat nwa pwogresis ki konsène pou adrese enjistis rasyal ak sosyal ak ekonomik ak ijans feròs kounye a," Jeffries. te di The Atlantic in August 2021. But during the same interview, Jeffries added: “There will never be a moment where I bend the knee to hard-left democratic socialism.” (Ironically, Jeffries was echoing the “fierce urgency of now” phrase from Martin Luther King Jr., who se te yon sosyalis demokratik.)
Jeffries renmen pike goch. Nan 2016, li rele Bernie Sanders yon "sosyalis ki renmen zam ki gen zewo eksperyans nan politik etranjè." Yon 2018 pwofil in The Economist – titled “High Hopes for Hakeem Jeffries” – concluded that he “is nearly as moderate as a safe-seat Democrat gets.” The article pointed out: “Though he supports the principle of universal healthcare coverage, he speaks of ‘the importance of market forces and getting things done in a responsible fashion.’ Quoting Ronald Reagan approvingly, he suggests this means promoting a flourishing private sector outside the ‘legitimate functions’ of government.”
Congressman Jeffries takes umbrage at negative press portrayals to such an extent that his office tries to quash critical assessments. When I wrote in a HuffPost moso an janvye 2019 ke "Jeffries te plis atantif pou sèvi pouvwa antrepriz than the interests of voters in his Brooklyn district,” the response was swift and angry. Jeffries’s communications director and senior advisor at the time, Michael Hardaway, fired off emails to HuffPost, claiming that my characterization was “factually inaccurate and easily disproven.” Despite the escalating fulminations, the HuffPost editor explained that he saw “no reason to correct or update the piece.”
Jeffries pa te yon patwone nan Green New Deal la (ki Pelosi célèbre denigre nan 2019: "The green dream or whatever they call it, nobody knows what it is, but they’re for it, right?”). He also has not cosponsored the Green New Deal for Cities Act.
During the latest election cycle, Jeffries joined forces with one of the most corporate and vitriolic anti-progressive Democrats in the House, Josh Gottheimer, to form Team Blue PAC. Its priority – to protect the party’s incumbents against Squad-like primary challengers – was summed up last winter in a Rolling Stone headline over an atik Konsènan inisyativ Jeffries la: “Top House Democrat Devwale Plan pou Rebat Rebelyon Pwogresis.”
Last year, The American Prospect reported, Jeffries was evidan absan soti nan efò pou sipòte lojman piblik nan vil lakay li. “Lè tout [lòt] New York City House Demokrat yo voye yon lèt bay Pelosi mande l pou l pwoteje tout 80 milya dola pou lojman piblik nan BBB [Bòdwo Build Back Better], Jeffries te sèl manm ki pa siyen missiv sa a, sitou etone paske yo konnen Dems New York yo aji kòm yon blòk.”
Jeffries se yon manm nan Kongrè Pwogresis Caucus, magazin nan te note, men afilyasyon sa a pa ta dwe pran nan valè nominal: "Jeffries se yon manm bèbè nan CPC a, pi gwo caucus nan pati a, men li te fèk chwazi alye tèt li ak. faksyon ki pi konsèvatif li yo. E alòske zèl modere pati a te deplase agoch sou tout bagay, depi nan politik etranjè rive nan byennèt sosyal, Jeffries pa t deplase avèk li.”
In fact, Hakeem Jeffries is thoroughly corporate, As The Intercept rapòte Sa gen kat ane, apre li te ranpòte yon kous sere kont Rep. Barbara Lee pou l te vin prezidan House Democratic Caucus la, “Jeffries gen anpil sipò pa gwo lajan ak PAC antrepriz yo. Mwens pase 2 pousan nan ranmase lajan li soti nan ti donatè, ki kontribye mwens pase $200, dapre dosye Komisyon Eleksyon Federal la.”
While in his fourth term, “Jeffries was the leading congressional recipient of hedge fund money in 2020,” The American Prospect rapòte last year. “He banked $1.1 million from the financial sector, real estate interests, and insurance industry in the 2019–2020 cycle. Everyone from JPMorgan Chase to Goldman Sachs to Blackstone contributed. Zimmer Partners, a hedge fund, is one of Jeffries’s top donors in 2021. From the outset, he has governed with those interests at heart. While Democrats were reconsidering their coziness with Wall Street, he broke ranks to vote with the financial services world, including on a high-profile measure literally written by Citigroup lobbyists in 2013 that killed the Dodd-Frank ‘swaps push-out’ rule, allowing banks to engage in risky trades backed by a potential taxpayer-funded bailout.”
Trant ane pi piti pase oratè sòtan an, Jeffries se yon senbòl apwopriye nan anprèsman medya yo anonse chanjman jenerasyonal pou Demokrat nan Kongrè a. Men, jounalis envestigasyon Alexander Sammon te bay yon apt rezime: “Barely in his fifties, Jeffries is young numerically, but aligned with an older mode of Democratic politics, and has repeatedly distanced himself from the younger crop of Democrats that is almost categorically more progressive (and more popular). He’s made a reputation for himself as the party’s future by becoming a foremost representative of its past.”
Lè yon flanbo pase, nou ta ka kontan "rankontre nouvo bòs nan travay la.” Men, nou ta dwe jete ilizyon. Nan fason sa a, èspere ke, nou pa twonpe ankò.
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